Acupuncture for Tennis Elbow

[gshase]

I have had 5 years of tennis elbow. It started in my right arm and the first Doc said rest and gave me a steroid shot and then I got it in my left arm. Went in for ultrasound therapy,compression bands,Celebrex,Physical therapy,Chiropractor,massage therapy,OTC msm,shark cartilage,collagen,Advil,Bio Freeze......... Four weeks ago I went and had 2 Chinese Acupuncture sessions and took some herbs and wore some white patches he gave me and I do believe I am over it. I ran out of his patches after 9 days and I have had no sensation or discomfort for the 3 weeks. Is this possible? We are packing for 2 weeks in the Dominican Republic and I could not be happier or feel better.

[Hydrocket]

Sure it's possible. I personally know someone that used this treatment on her back and it seemed to be the only thing that worked.

There are many alternative treatments that work.

[aigel]

Of course it is possible. It is called the PLACEBO effect.

Seriously, as long as it helps, who cares?

G

[azasadny]

I would put more trust in acupuncture than chiropractic.

[fireant911]

When my wife was in medical school, one of her classmates went abroad to China for a year between her third and fourth year (so, medical school was really five years long in her classmate's case). The idea was to learn more of the 'holistic' practices of medicine... acupuncture was certainly part of this study. Although I have no first-hand experience, I am not surprised that you found benefits to this treatment.

[TimT]

I have had acupuncture treatments for lower back pain ( here in the states and in numerous places in China), and have found it helps ease the pain.. and when I stopped treatment, the pain would return after awhile..

Acupuncture does not cure or fix physical problems, it helps block the pain ( at least in my case) I also have tennis elbow and have had cortisone shots in the joint, used the prednisone treatment, had physical therapy, worn the elbow and still get flare ups..

I have sciatica and damaged vertebrae in my lower back, the acupuncture treatments and massage therapy really helped my back pain, but when I stop the treatment, the pain creeps back..

Hopefully in your case the results are longer lasting...

[Noah930]

If you're feeling better, that's the most important thing. Your pain will be a guide as to how much damage (or not) you're doing to yourself. I've had some patients have success with acupuncture and tennis elbow, though I've found the cortisone injections to be more reliably effective. The other thing to look into are PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma) injections. I've been doing more of those recently. The first few seemed so-so in their effectiveness. But I've had a recent run of success where most people seem to get good, lasting relief. The patients are often police officers or firemen, so they're usually motivated guys.

The biggest complaint about acupuncture is that there aren't really long-term studies to show continued effectiveness. I'm not sure if that's because it doesn't work long-term, or because no one's really taken the effort to do a long-term study.

Do your stretching exercises, too. Arm out straight in front of you, elbow straight, palm down. Use the other hand to flex the wrist so the fingers point to the ground. You should feel a stretch in the forearm by the painful part of the elbow.

And when you pick things up, try to pick them up with your palm up, so that you use the stronger flexor muscles. If you pick things up with the palm facing downwards, you're using the weaker extensor muscles and putting strain on the injured portion of common extensor tendon.

[Tobra]

I don't think accupuncture is placebo. Seems to me you should be icing it too, if you are not already.

PRP can be pretty incredible stuff, really amazing sometimes.

[Buckterrier]

Certainly it can & is helping. I had acupuncture done on a dog of mine when nothing else worked for a bad neck & worked. (And that wasn't written in green).
I certainly wish I'd have tried in when I had tennis elbow. Those cortisone shots F'ing hurt!!!!!

[carreradpt]

I am experiencing tennis elbow right now and it sucks. Had a cortizone injection and have been doing PT now for 6 weeks and I am getting better slowly. As far as acupuncture, I had a Bulldog with bad hip displasia and my ex thought we should try it. I laughed it off but she insisted. Holy shyte! There was no placebo effect for that dog. The next morning she had turned into a puppy. I was amazed. 6 weeks later, hell I took her back and got her an update. It was simply amazing. I would never had believed it. Never really gave it a thought for me, not sure why now that I think about it.